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Definition of adopt in English:

adopt

verb

‘About 4,939 Russian children are legally adopted by foreigners each year, but 184,000 still languish in orphanages.’

‘There are really no rules of thumb, but older couples are less likely to adopt infants and many younger couples prefer babies in order to fit in with peer groups.’

‘Legally, they could then adopt children in Florida.’

‘In the USA last year 46,000 foster care children were adopted - an increase of 65 per cent on the figure in 1996.’

‘We can legally marry and adopt children in every jurisdiction.’

‘Such couples may have to wait a number of years before they can legally adopt a child.’

‘We have laws in this country to decide whether a couple are legally fit to adopt a child.’

‘From what I have gathered they are going to adopt an orphan and have told many people.’

‘Foundlings were adopted by neighbors, and accorded privileged status in the community, by way of compensating them for the loss of their parents.’

‘The couple adopted two children, a boy and a girl.’

‘No one would adopt a seventeen-year-old orphan.’

‘If a person legally adopts a child there can be several complications.’

‘The children were adopted from two orphanages in Hunan province.’

‘However, he has no living relatives that will adopt the orphan.’

‘Some time before I got to know her, Mona adopted a baby girl named Ayesha.’

‘When you adopt a child, he or she is legally yours; you have all the rights and responsibilities that a birth parent has.’

‘Of this number, half of the families adopt healthy infants.’

‘But just because you can legally adopt a child does not necessarily mean it is in the best interests of that child to be adopted by you.’

‘‘Each household in a functioning community can adopt orphans and others who have no homes anymore,’ he said.’

‘Clare and Dan adopted three youngsters, aged three, four and seven.’

1.1Take up or start to use or follow (an idea, method, or course of action)

‘this approach has been adopted by many big banks’

‘Though there was a lot of criticism from various quarters at that time, today the present coaches are adopting the method, which was introduced by Balkishen Singh.’

‘The Catholic and Protestant Churches adopted different methods.’

‘Many complain about the way in which editing techniques have, in the hope of creating excitement, adopted the methods used in music videos.’

‘The latest developments have also inspired some political analysts to urge the state to adopt a different method of dealing with the group.’

‘By adopting the method, Mr. Haridas is able to even defeat a computer in calculations.’

‘He adopted the method of the ‘snapshot,’ of the intimate and the incidental, as a ‘style.’’

‘A few astrologers have chosen to adopt a third method of division.’

‘People who go through this dilemma expect their organisations to motivate them to work by adopting methods such as get-togethers, meditation and yoga programmes.’

‘Successive generations, of course, have adopted American ways for dealing with the medical community.’

‘It is important to keep in mind that whatever method is adopted for quitting smoking, the most important factors are conviction and willpower.’

‘Until that time, sauces followed the Roman method adopted by Taillevent: where thick pieces of stale bread were soaked in liquid and then strained through cloth.’

‘For this final experiment, we are adopting a new method.’

‘It means adopting different methods for different groups.’

‘The women claim they have adopted a simple method to ensure men don't drink: they take their evening meals by 6 pm.’

‘At the birth of the Second Republic, 90% of Italians voted to adopt a first-past-the-post method.’

‘The idea is that Keynes during his career adopted a particular method of investigation based on the close connection between theory and practice.’

‘I agree that this was an option and not obligatory, but most consulting engineers chose to adopt this method, as it satisfied the needs for the brief and avoided the need for dimensioning the drawings.’

‘Only a few firms succeeded in not only getting bigger, but also in adopting the American methods of managerial organization adequate to their new size.’

‘At the same time, some readers may find both essays comforting; after all, both authors have elected to adopt new methods in their research programs.’

‘Some of the Chinese have adopted the western method of toasting, but where this is the case, everyone must touch everyone else's glass during the toasting and before drinking.’

‘As both sides adopted firm positions yesterday, it was confirmed that a strike at the company's pig farms will begin on Monday the day before the major work stoppage.’

‘No matter what the Court may announce on Monday, it will not be adopting this extreme position.’

‘Assuming an effective role as mediator in the region, the group might be able to adopt a position where it could exert a highly positive influence over the future of the region for a long time to come.’

‘I was adopting a position of enlightened intellectual who was going to teach my Midwestern students about the realities and inequalities of their nation.’

‘Dunbar adopts an intriguing position on the origin of language, seeing it as taking over many of the social functions of physical contact and grooming that for many monkey species take up a considerable part of each day.’

‘Shortly after that the pilot told us it was a full emergency landing and we had to adopt the brace position.’

‘They had to be flexible, and adopt different positions to accommodate ever changing circumstances.’

‘Not all writers adopting a constructionist position are similarly prepared to acknowledge the existence or at least importance of an objective reality.’

‘Like much of continental philosophy, feminist continental philosophy adopts a critical position with regard to reason.’

‘One cannot be sure what it was about the appearance or the behaviour of this insect that led the Greeks to call it, too, mantis; perhaps its habit of adopting a motionless position as if transfixed.’

1.3adopt someone asChoose someone to receive special recognition.

‘at least 23 people adopted as “prisoners of conscience” remain in jail’

‘The local Tory party in Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross was due yesterday to take a decision on whether to adopt him as a candidate.’

‘In 1921 he was adopted as a Labour candidate for Battersea North.’

‘Livingstone has said that if he is adopted as party candidate, he will nominate Gavron as his running mate for deputy.’

‘After coming joint top of the civil service exam, he joined the sector in 1946, only to resign the following year when he was adopted as the Parliamentary candidate for Bexley.’

‘He was adopted as a parliamentary candidate in 1976 and within two years was on a key Scottish Labour Party committee.’

‘In 1962, in Sir David's final year at university, he was adopted as prospective parliamentary candidate for the Pentlands.’

‘The Orkney Conservative Party are due to adopt Christopher Zawadski as their prospective parliamentary candidate to stand in the next election.’

‘Nationalist stalwarts foregather in Elgin tonight to adopt their candidate for the forthcoming Moray by-election, now declared for April 27.’

‘A British senior civil servant, in contrast, is required to resign his post once he is adopted as a prospective political candidate, and very few have followed this course.’

‘He was officially adopted as a prospective candidate at a party meeting on Monday, April 18, 1955.’

‘In 1926, after returning to England from living in the United States, she was adopted as a Conservative candidate in the East End of London.’

1.5(of a local authority) accept responsibility for the maintenance of (a road)

‘The roads were adopted by the county council in 1964, but she stated that she did not believe the council had carried out its responsibilities of maintaining the roads and paths.’

‘Essex County Council has also agreed to adopt roads and is also subsidising a bus service.’

‘The Council has sent out letters telling residents that the Council are going to adopt the roads, but we, the residents, are being asked to pay to bring the roads up to standard before they get adopted.’

‘A Wiltshire County Council spokesman said plans were in hand for the council to adopt the road as a highway in a year's time.’

Usage

See adapt

Origin

Late 15th century: via French from Latin adoptare, from ad- to + optare choose.